


Rishi

by Ariella1941



Series: In The Shadow of Empires [5]
Category: Star Wars Legends - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: F/M, POV First Person, Plot, Romance, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-31
Packaged: 2018-08-11 22:03:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7909279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ariella1941/pseuds/Ariella1941
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aryelle and Theron reunite on the pirate haven of Rishi as Revan's plans come closer to fruition.</p><p>Shadow of Revan Era</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Red Hulls

_Aryelle Thrace_

Weeks went by without a word, and it grated on my nerves, which was foolish. It wasn’t as if the messages Theron and I had exchanged before he went off the grid had been of a personal nature. In fact, that… moment on Manaan before he left was the first time we’d ever actually _gotten_ personal.

So, of course, now I was doing a fair impression of a school girl mooning over a crush. Fortunately, or unfortunately, there were still too many fires in the galaxy and not enough people to put them out. It wasn’t enough to drive him from my thoughts or keep me from staring at the bulkheads at night wondering where he was, and if he was thinking of me, but it did manage to slow my descent into insanity.

The only thing I knew about Theron Shan for certain was that he was still alive. The nebulous sense of him wasn’t something I could pinpoint. I couldn’t look at a map of the galaxy and point out his location, which is just as well, since I was getting less and less rational about the whole arrangement.

It was during a training session with Kira and Scourge that everything changed.

* * *

 

“Couldn’t they practice with sticks or something?” Doc asked me as we watched the practice bout. Scourge wasn’t holding back. He never did, even during training. But Kira was holding her own against the Sith Lord. Still it had our resident medical expert worried. “I’m not sure if I’m equipped to reattach arms or legs or… heads.”

Kira wasn’t about to let the opening Doc had left her pass and said, “The great Doc, not up to a real challenge? I thought your skills were second to none.”

“I never said I wasn’t skilled,” he countered, “just that I wasn’t equipped… Uh, for that. Reattaching limbs.”

Kira shut down her saber and shook her head. “It’s a poor craftsman who blames his tools….”

The conversation was about to devolve into yet another sniping fest, but the Force intervened before I could…

_A male Rodian and a female human arguing… a planet in the Far Rim… a town along the seaside with beaches of black sand… Revan waiting patiently…_

When the vision finally let me go, I felt hands steadying me and looked up to find a worried Kira looking back.

“Master? Is something wrong?” she asked as the others closed in. I must have looked terrible because even Scourge seemed concerned… maybe.

“I saw a planet, far away. The Outer Rim I think, and a town near the sea…”

“Far away planet= Rishi?” T7 warbled as it entered the common area.

“Rishi?” I asked, wondering where the little astromech had gotten that name from.

“Coordinates for Rishi entered into navicomputer // T7 thought Jedi entered new destination.”

I shook my head and walked to the bridge. Settling into my chair, I checked the coordinates. There was no indication of how they’d been entered. Not that I expected one.

“I didn’t input this, T7.”

“Then who?” Kira asked as she sat in the copilot’s seat. She stopped for a moment, considering, and then said. “You think it’s him?”

“Maybe, but only one way to find out,” I told her and then said to the others, “strap yourselves in people. We’re going to Rishi.”

* * *

 

_Theron Shan_

“Hey there.”

That was the best I could come up with as I saw Aryelle for the first time in months. Not that I didn’t _try_ to come up with something better. I’d spent the odd moment or ten looking for the right words, but nothing seemed to come. It didn’t help that the sleeveless tunic and trousers she wore left little to the imagination.

“’Hey there yourself, Theron,” Aryelle said wryly, “Hello, Lana. So you two _were_ behind all this.”

“Guilty as charged,” I told her, “Sorry if we put you out, but we had to be cautious.”

“The Revanites have gone to increasingly severe lengths to hunt us down since we destroyed their operations on Rakata Prime,” Lana added.

“We had to get you here to help us without leaving a trail.” I said, “Sorry we couldn’t be more… direct.”

Aryelle studied me closely then said, “After all this time, I was starting to think you’d forgotten about me.”

She tried to play it off as a joke, but I was sure I heard something more underneath. Going on instinct, I put some of the heat I felt into my response:

“Is that a fact? What are you thinking now?”

I watched Aryelle’s light brown eyes go dark and her cheeks flush. Unfortunately, before I could say (or do) anything more, Lana rode to the rescue.

“Shall we focus? Please?”

“I can’t believe I’m going to say this,” Kira added, “but I agree with Lana.”

“Okay,” Aryelle said, “why don’t we start with why people think I’m a pirate… and a cannibal?”

“You’re playing pirate because we need to go after one of the major crews here on Rishi: The Nova Blades,” I told her and then jerked a thumb at Lana, “but the cannibal part was Lana’s idea.”

“We needed something lurid that would capture the imagination of these pirates,” Lana said defensively, “something so outside their experience that word of the Red Hulls would spread quickly.”

“So we’re cannibals who paint the hull of our ship with the blood of our victims?” Kira asked, “I mean, who _does_ that?”

“Lana’s imagination, apparently,” I replied, desperately trying to keep a straight face.

“Lana’s imagination nearly got us killed,” Kira stated flatly, “twice.”

“Us, Kira?” Aryelle said sounding amused. “They were all gunning for the Captain of the Red Hulls, which would be _me_.”

“As Theron was saying, we need to go after the Nova Blades, as they’ve allied themselves with the Revanites.” Lana’s voice was crisp as she spoke, and she refused to look at me directly. Probably because I wasn’t bothering to hide my amusement. Hell, I might _finally_ have something to needle Lana with the next time she gets smug.

Not that I would.

Honest.

“The Blades run things here on Rishi, and they’re brutal. Butchering starship crews, ‘disappearing’ anyone who tries to stand up to them,” I said, getting us back on track, “and it seems the Revanites have the Blades attacking specific trade lanes, which is remapping interstellar traffic. We don’t know why.”

“So you need the Red Hulls to make a lot of noise while you look for answers,” Aryelle observed.

I nodded, “Exactly, but we can’t go straight for their main base or the Revanites might get suspicious anyway.”

“The Nova Blades have a supply cache nearby which is lightly defended. It would make a good place to begin the Red Hull’s attacks,” Lana added.

“So it’s pirate stomping,” Kira said with satisfaction. “We should bring Rusk in on this, Boss. He’d have a field day.”

I tried to hide my laughter behind an unconvincing cough. Sergeant Rusk didn’t like pirates, or bullies in general. Who knows? He might even crack a smile.

“Well, if we’re going to do this, best get started now,” Aryelle said. “We’ll probably be back by tomorrow.”

Kira took that as their cue to leave, but before Aryelle could walk out the door I pulled her aside.

“I really didn’t forget you,” I told her. “I just wanted to be sure we had accurate intel before calling you in.” From the look on her face, I wasn’t sure she was buying it. And again, I wasn’t exactly sure how well she could read me or what she’d picked up in the past several months.

But before I could say anything else she smiled slightly and asked, “Do you know someone named Teff’ith?”

“Teff’ith? Yeah, I do, but how do you even know about…?”

“I got a message from someone with that name asking about you,” Aryelle replied, looking at me oddly, “It took me about five minutes to figure it out. The spelling was atrocious.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “That sounds like Teff’ith. I’m not sure if she’s really that bad or if it’s something she just affects for the hell of it.”

“Well, she called you ‘stupid’ at least three times,” Aryelle told me, sounding amused, then she sobered. “She also told me that some ‘Republic goons’ came after her and she’s in hiding, and doesn’t understand why.”

“I’ll contact her after we finish up with this,” I said, more to myself than to her, “Last thing I want to do is get her mixed up in this.”

Aryelle gave me another odd look, and I didn’t need to be a Jedi to know what she was thinking.

“It’s not like that, Aryelle. Teff’s the annoying little sister who’s always in trouble.”

She laughed at that. “I’m going to assume you adopted her and not the other way around.”

“One of these days I’ll tell you the story, promise, but speaking of little sisters, you should probably catch up with Kira before she goes to take on the Blades all by herself,” I said with a slight smile.

“Good idea, Theron,” she replied. “I’ll be back soon.”

“I know.”

* * *

 

Aryelle and her crew had just gotten back from the Nova Blades base when Doc started complaining.

“Hey, Gorgeous, I thought this was supposed to be a party?”

I grit my teeth and tried to pretend he didn’t exist, but if I heard one more ‘gorgeous’ or ‘beautiful’ out of the guy, I was going to shoot him. It wouldn’t even have to be fatal, just somewhere it would hurt. A lot.

 “Sorry things aren’t up to spec, Kimble, but slicing these files is slow going,” I told him, somehow managing to keep my voice this side of civil as I kept my back to him.

“It’s just ‘Doc’, and if you need a hand…”

“No,” I said as my hand tried to twitch toward my blaster again. I don’t know how Aryelle stands him, or how Kira hasn’t killed him yet. I turned and gave him a hard look, but before I could say anything more, Aryelle intervened.

“Let Theron work, Doc, and if you’re concerned about the party, talk to Lana,” Aryelle smiled, “she’s the one who mentioned celebrating, after all.”

Doc took one look at Lana, who probably liked him even less than I did and shut up. I turned back to the terminal; trying to hide my smile.

“He means well,” Aryelle said quietly as she came to stand at my side.

I knew she was right, but I wasn’t in the mood to feel charitable. “Yeah, but I’d feel better if he meant well somewhere else, like maybe Hoth.”

“You’ll have to make do with the local cantina, I suppose, Theron,” Lana said as I looked around. T7 was still here, but Kira, Rusk and Doc were gone. “It seemed he decided that the celebration needed to move elsewhere.”

“I don’t care where he is as long as he’s not here,” I said to no one in particular as I studied the latest data packet that I’d just decrypted. “Now, this is interesting.”

“What’s ‘interesting’?” Lana asked, coming to try and peer over my shoulder.

“More references to this ‘Torch’ person Margok and Revan were talking about. Seems she does head up a clan of Mandalorians here on Rishi,” I said, narrowing my eyes as I parsed the intel. “They were allied with the Revanites, but broke all ties, and not on good terms.”

“I’m loath to ask this of you, Aryelle,” I heard Lana say, “considering you’ve achieved more in your short time here than any of us thought possible, but this Torch might just have useful information.”

“Agreed,” Aryelle replied, and I saw her look at me out of the corner of my eye. “Theron?”

I looked back at her and smiled wryly. “It’d be crazy to ignore a potential source of intel. If Torch will talk.”

“Then I’ll be persuasive,” Aryelle replied, “and being that they’re Mandalorians, there might be lightsabers involved.”

“Just be careful,” Lana said, beating me to the punch. “We need you alive and well more than we need any theoretical information they could provide.”

“Yes, Mother, I’ll even be home before dark,” Aryelle joked and I heard Lana snort. “Seriously, I’ll be careful in dealing with them, but if I’m going to do this I better go now.”

I turned to watch her leave, but she stopped for a second, and then looked back at us.

“Something just came up,” she said, “and I need to take care of it immediately, but I’ll leave as soon as I’m done.”

I didn’t know exactly what happened, but it had to be something to do with the Force, so as soon as Aryelle left I turned to Lana to ask her if she’d sensed anything.

“Lana?”

“It was a whisper,” she said, sounding anxious, “and one I wasn’t meant to hear.”

Suddenly I had a bad feeling about this.

 


	2. Scars We Bear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aryelle shares her scars and her experience with the Emperor with Theron.

_Aryelle Thrace_

I am whole. It’s strange to think of those words now, and it’s strange to _remember_ what I’d done under the Emperor’s control. But Master Orgus was right. I had needed to heal. And now I was ready to take on anything, including Torch.

I’d finished gathering my things and left the cantina when I heard Theron’s voice.

“Aryelle?”

“Good timing, Theron,” I said as he fell in step beside me. “I was just about to leave for Torch’s island.”

“So you finished up the urgent whatever?”

I nodded, “It’s done, and nothing to worry about.”

“Good,” he replied, “because I got some strange reports about the Red Hulls’ doctor helping victims of Tanamen Fever.”

I didn’t look at him, since I was at a loss. I had never really discussed Jedi philosophy with Theron. In fact, I’d gone out of my way to avoid it, since it was obviously a sore spot. So I didn’t know how to explain to him what had happened without sounding… like a Jedi I suppose.

“Okay, maybe you want to tell me why you and T7 broke cover to fix the monsoon baffles around town? Or why Kira and Rusk spent a good portion of this afternoon doing cleanup in the slums? Or how you knew any of this needed to get done in the first place?”

I pulled him aside, out of the foot traffic of the Blaster’s Path. “I’m sorry about breaking cover, but I’m not sure you want to hear the answer, Theron,” I said.

“Jedi business?”

Under the exasperation I could hear the bitterness in his voice, and I realized that maybe I wasn’t the only one who needed to heal.

“It is, and it isn’t,” I told him, “Master Orgus came to talk to me.”

“Orgus is dead,” he replied, not so much to convince me of the fact, but to try and understand what he was hearing.

“Yes, he is,” I said sadly, “but he’s come to speak with me on a number of occasions since Angral killed him. In fact, he helped me free myself from the Emperor.”

“But why now? And what does this have to do with Revan?”

I shook my head. “It doesn’t. It has to do with me, and what I went through at the Emperor’s hands.”

Theron just stared at me, and I could feel him trying to understand, trying to put it in the context of what he’d been taught.

“After I was freed,” I told him, “I hid those memories, what he did, what _I_ did so deep inside that I couldn’t bring them back. At the same time, even if I couldn’t remember, I was still carrying them like scars. I needed to remember.”

“But what did your little community service project have to do with that?” he asked, still struggling to understand.

For a moment I felt a gulf between us, one that might have been there all along, but there was also our bond.

“I’m sure the SIS has a pretty large file on me, so you know what’s happened since I arrived on Tython.” I watched him nod and then continued. “I’ve been up to my neck in blood and death. I’ve been a weapon more than a person most days. I needed a reminder that there was more to being a Jedi than living with a lightsaber in my hand if I was going to face those memories and heal.”

He surprised me when he took my hand in his own and squeezed gently, “So you’re going to be okay now?”

“Yeah, I am, Theron. I think I needed this. I needed to be whole for whatever’s coming.”

He squeezed my hand again and asked, “Did Orgus let anything slip about what happens next? Like if we’re going to beat Revan?”

“Unfortunately not,” I said with a smile then sobered. “He said that dark times were coming, and that I was ready to face them.”

_And that I wouldn’t be alone when I did._

I knew Master Orgus disapproved of emotional attachments. I remembered that day when we talked about why Jedi are forbidden to marry or have children, but as I looked at Theron and felt the bond between us, I had to wonder if my Master had been wrong. Or maybe not completely right; because I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Theron would be there with me, facing down the dark. Whatever else that was happening between us, we’d face whatever came together.

“Figures,” Theron said with mock disgust. “Be nice just this once to be told ‘yuph, you win’.”

I laughed, “That would be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, it would,” he said, and then he looked at me oddly. “I’ll have your back when you face these things down, Aryelle. I promise. You won’t be alone.”

Something changed in Theron at that moment. The bitterness receded and I felt a contentment radiating from him.

This time I squeezed his hand, and I felt happier than I had in a long time.

“I know,” I told him, “and neither will you.”

 

 

 


	3. Heart of A Sith

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theron is captured by the Revanites, and Aryelle beings to realize she might not be the Jedi everyone thinks she is.

“You have the heart of a Sith.”

-Lord Scourge to Aryelle Thrace.

* * *

 

_Aryelle Thrace_

It hit me on the way back from Torch’s island. A burst of controlled terror that drove the breath from my lungs. It was Theron. I didn’t know what was happening, but he was in danger.

_There is no emotion, there is peace…_

**_Theron!_ **

“Hold on.”

That was all the warning I gave as I hit the afterburners and sent the speeder screaming back toward Raider’s Cove.

* * *

 

“Master! Master, wait up!” Kira yelled from behind me as I strode toward the safe house. But I wasn’t in the mood to wait. I needed to know what happened to Theron. I could still feel him, but his presence wasn’t in the building at the end of the alley.

“Leave her be, Jedi,” Scourge said. The Sith Lord took some mild amusement in my relationship, or lack thereof, with Theron. We both remembered that long ago conversation about my theoretical children. But that wasn’t what Scourge was interested in right now. He was interested in the other half of the conversation. He was interested in my heart.

Scourge could go to hell.

I arrived just in time to find Jakarro arguing with Lana.

“I could have caught up!” he roared, but she refused to flinch.

“We couldn’t afford to be that reckless, Jakarro,” Lana replied with a surprising amount of calm. “Losing Theron is bad enough…”

“Losing Theron?” I said coolly, and both Wookie and Sith turned to look at me in surprise. “You make it sound like you misplaced him somewhere, Lana.”

“Aryelle, we can’t afford to…”

“Can’t afford to what, Lana?” I asked, my voice still conversational, still calm sounding, but Lana knew better. The fury I felt at the moment didn’t burn hot, but cold. My thoughts were clear, calculating and icy.

“What. Happened. To. Theron?”

“He was captured, Aryelle,” Lana finally said, “the data suggested that there was a Revanite safe house in town and when we went to investigate…”

“There were only ten of them,” Jakarro growled, “but she used her Sith wizardry to hold me back.”

“Is this true, Lana?”

“Theron is the only one they saw, and while I realize the Revanites know we are working together, they may not know the rest of us are here.”

“Then we need to move fast. Get to Theron before they disappear,” Kira said from her place by the door. “Between the four of us,” she gestured to Scourge, “we’ve got enough power to flatten even someone like Revan.”

Scourge snorted, “Do not be so overconfident, Jedi. Revan is more powerful than you realize, but even if we were to go searching it would matter little, would it not?”

I knew what he was really asking, and I nodded. “Theron’s not in Raider’s Cove anymore. I can’t tell exactly where except he’s north and east of here.”

“I don’t know what you’re all so worried about,” Dee Four put in. “They took him alive. That’s a good sign. They’re probably just torturing him a bit… Maybe doing some interrogation…”

“You’re not helping, Dee Four,” Kira told the droid.

“Theron has several discrete implants designed to help him resist pain and chemical manipulation,” Lana pointed out, though it didn’t do much to make me feel better. “He’ll keep our secrets.”

“And if one of the rogue Jedi or Sith following Revan get in the act?” Kira replied acidly.

“I haven’t been able to read him,” Lana admitted and then looked around defensively, “Yes, I’ve tried, is that so surprising?” She sighed and continued, “Theron’s mind is highly ordered, very resolute, most likely a byproduct of his early Jedi training.”

As much as we were going around in circles, the conversation gave me a chance to step away from my anger. It was still there, still a part of me, but no longer threatening my control.

This didn’t mean Revan was getting a free pass the next time we met, however.

“Okay, enough,” I told them in a voice that sounded more like me. “According to Torch, Revan has a fleet hidden somewhere on Rishi but she didn’t know where. We find the fleet, we find Theron. But I’d prefer to do it sooner rather than later.”

“Agreed,” Lana said with some relief, “and if we’re lucky, Theron may have learned something of their plans.”

“Wait a sec. I’ve been thinking…” Kira said to us. “The pirate attacks were making major changes in shipping lanes, right? That’s going to change _patrol routes_ too.”

“And Revan’s intending to lure them here, then pounce with this fleet,” I finished for my former Padawan. “Now all we need to do is find the damn thing.”

“I know where they are,” Dee Four offered diffidently. “When they captured Theron, I intercepted their transmissions, and after that, triangulating their position was a simple calculation. I completed it 87 seconds ago.”

“And you did not tell us this, droid?” Jakarro roared.

“Lana, Kira and Aryelle were talking, it would have been rude to interrupt,” Dee Four told his master, and then he continued, “They’re on a small island not far from here, and the native Rishi have a trading village on the same island. I’m sure they’ll give us comfortable lodging.”

“We’ll need to cover our tracks here first,” Lana said and then looked at me, “Go on ahead and we’ll catch up.”

I studied the other woman for a moment. She was holding something back. I didn’t have to be a Jedi to sense that. But now that I’d stepped back from my anger, I could see it in the back of her eyes. What’s more, whatever it was _bothered_ her, which made me wonder if we were the first people Lana might consider as something more than temporary allies.

But all I said aloud was: “Agreed, we’ll see you there.”

As we walked to the spaceport, I felt the weight of eyes on me.

At first I thought it might be the Revanites, but I realized who it truly was.

“Your shackles weaken,” Scourge said in a low voice.

“I am Jedi,” I said calmly, while a part of me wondered if he was right. If I was becoming something else.

“Stop playing with her, Scourge,” Kira told him. “She doesn’t need it, especially now.”

“I am not ‘playing’, girl,” he replied even as he gave me an inscrutable look.

“Another vision?” I asked him, suddenly feeling tired.

“An unfinished destiny,” he replied and said nothing more.

Destiny. I was beginning to hate that word.

* * *

 

_Theron Shan_

Aryelle was here. I didn’t know how I knew, but I hadn’t survived a decade with the SIS by questioning my instincts. So when I broke out, I headed straight for her.

It wasn’t exactly easy. My implants had been pushed to the limit, and the pain from the interrogation sessions was creeping in, but I kept going anyway. Aryelle and the others needed to know what was happening before the worst massacre of the war took place.

I slammed my hand on locking mechanism, and slipped through before the door slammed shut.   Trying to catch my breath I saw Aryelle, Kira and Rusk standing there, facing a holo of Revan.

“Theron?” she said, “I thought I’d lost you for good there.”

“Yeah well, I knew you’d come and rescue me, so I thought I’d give you a hand, but we don’t have much time. He’s got a signal jammer that’s blocking all com traffic in the Rishi system. The fleets will come out of hyperspace with no coordination, and with sleepers in every crew, it’ll be a bloodbath.”

What happened next was probably the most terrifying thing I’d ever see. Aryelle turned back to holo, and said in a way too conversational voice: “When I find you, Revan, I’m going to destroy you, and there’ll be nothing left but ashes.”

“I doubt that,” Revan replied as he cut the connection, and secondary systems began to explode all over the building.

“Self-destruct sequence, we need to move,” I said, stumbling forward, only to be caught by Kira.

“I gotcha, Super Spy,” she said as she did what she could to steady me. “There’s a console over there, maybe we can shut this thing down?”

I figured we had little chance, but a little is a hell of a lot better than none, and I knew Aryelle wouldn’t leave me behind. None of them would.

But before we could get anywhere slicing the console the explosions stopped.

“Hello? Is everything all right?” Lana’s voice came through what was left of the terminal’s com system.

“Lana?” Aryelle said, “ _You_ shut down the self-destruct?”

The Sith sounded amused as she replied, “I’m beginning to get the hang of this slicing business.”

“I’ve created a monster,” I muttered under my breath.

“You should hurry. I heard what Theron said, and the fleets will be arriving soon.”

“We’re on our way,” Aryelle told Lana and cut the connection.

“I’ll be right behind you,” I said, “I have some things I need to pick up on the way out.”

“Absolutely not,” Aryelle replied, glaring at me. “We didn’t come all this way to rescue you to get separated now. Kira, stay with him while the Sergeant and I clear a path to Jakarro’s ship.”

“Aryelle…”

“No arguments, Theron,” she told me in a hard voice. “this is the way it’s going to be.” She ignited her lightsabers and stalked out with Rusk in tow.

“Let’s get your stuff, and while I’m not one of the healers on Tython, I might be able to do a little to ease the pain,” Kira said as she helped me try and find the equipment Revan’s people had confiscated.

I limped out of the command center, heading for the ship. Kira was as good as her word, and while I knew the damage was still there, I was moving a bit easier, and the pain receded to something I could manage.

But those were just absent observations.

What kept replaying in my head was Aryelle’s calm voice:

_When I find you, Revan, I’m going to destroy you, and there’ll be nothing left but ashes._

I knew, to her, it wasn’t a threat, but a fact. I suspected it had less to do with Revan’s plans and more to do with what happened to me. That should have been terrifying. But it wasn’t. And neither was the fact that I’d do the same for her.

It’s just the way it was. And I was okay with that.


	4. The Battle of Rishi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theron, Aryelle, Lana and their team fight to head off the worst bloodbath of the war.

_Theron Shan_

“You should be in a kolto tank, not planning this operation, Theron,” Aryelle said to me as we stood at the computer terminal that had been set up. She’d calmed down since we’d gotten back to the Rishi village, but she still wasn’t close to what I’d call happy.

Then again, neither was I.

“No choice,” I told her, trying to keep the pain out of my voice. “I’ve got to finish decrypting the rest of these Nova Blade files. The names of every infiltrator and the ships they’re on are in that data. Once the jammer goes down, we’ll need to broadcast everything we have to convince both fleets to break off action and lock up the Revanites in their crews.”

“Speaking of taking the jammer down,” Kira said, “those are some thick anti-air defenses.”

“The mighty Jakarro isn’t afraid of a few canons,” the Wookie growled.

“We’d be better off with a surface attack,” Sergeant Rusk commented as he studied the map I’d managed to pull from the files. “They’d never expect a small strike team, especially if we catch them in the opening phase of the battle.”

“Plus less of a chance of you being shot down by a twitchy trigger finger in one of the fleets, Jakarro,” Kira added.

“Rationality at last!” Dee Four said.

“Okay, Rusk, Kira, you’re with me,” Aryelle told everyone. “Scourge is staying with _Shrike_ , and Doc, I want you and T7 here with Theron and Lana.”

“You should take Doc,” I protested. “You’re going to need a field medic.”

“We’ll be fine, Theron, but you need someone to keep you from falling over while you work, and T7 can help decode the files that much faster.”

I wanted to mutter something about not needing babysitters, but I knew she wasn’t in the mood.

“Jakarro, if I might use the com aboard your ship?” Lana asked. “It would be better if I used a separate channel to speak to Lord Marr once the jammer is down.”

_I’ll just bet._

“Sounds like we got a plan then,” Kira said, then stopped for a second, “I think we need to clear the room for a bit. Everybody out.”

I heard them file out with Doc grumbling under his breath. Seems he didn’t want to be here anymore than I wanted him here.

I winced and glanced over at Aryelle. “Why the sudden privacy?”

“Because you’ve been giving Lana looks since you got back,” she replied.

_Damn, must be slipping because of the pain._

“I think my little visit with the Revanites may have been Lana’s idea.”

“Yeah, that’s sounds like something she would do,” Aryelle agreed which surprised me. Or maybe it shouldn’t have. Not after her confrontation with Revan. “It’s pragmatic as hell, but we can deal with it one way or another after we stop this battle.”

“Yeah, the longer we wait the more we….” I grit my teeth in pain and continued, “the more we lose.”

“And that is why I’m leaving Doc here,” she said to me. “Just promise me once we get them to stop shooting, you’ll let him fix you up.”

“Okay, you win. I’ll behave.”

Aryelle smiled at me, “you better.”

“I will. I swear.”

“Good.”

* * *

 

“So, how did you do it?” Doc asked me, as I finished with the last of the files. They made some frightening reading.

“Do what?” I replied absently, as I prepped the info packet to transmit. If the intel we’d gotten was accurate, we were looking at the command fleets from both the Empire and the Republic, which meant _Dauntless_ and the Grand Master were here. If anyone was going to listen to us, it’d be Satele, but that left Marr as a wildcard and with Lana’s little deception…

“How’d you get to the lady Jedi? I mean, I’ve been trying for over a year, and no luck, but you smile at her and she melts.”

I was probably good I wasn’t armed. Having to explain to Aryelle why I shot her medic would be awkward. And anyway, it seemed like _I_ was the one doing the melting most of the time.

“We’re in the middle of trying to stop what could be the bloodiest fleet battle in history, and this is what you want to talk about?”

“Until the lady gets the jammer down, there’s not much else to talk about.”

I started looking for my blaster as I reminded myself that it usually is easier to ask forgiveness than permission. After all, I didn’t have to kill him…

There was a blast of static from the com and then:

“Republic Fleet, this is Jedi Master Aryelle Thrace, do you copy?”

_She did it! Damn it, she did it!_

“This is _Dauntless,_ Master Thrace, we copy. Patching you to the command deck now.”

“Aryelle,” I hear the Grand Master say, “I assume we have you to thank for shutting down the jammer?”

I dropped my own com into the circuit and said:

“That and a whole lot more.”

“You have traitors hiding on every ship in the fleet, Master Satele,” Aryelle told her, “the Imperial ships as well. They want to manipulate the battle from both sides.”

“I’m transmitting the names of the traitors now,” I said as I punched the commands that would broadcast the packet in the clear so every ship in the Rishi system would pick it up. “They’re all part of a cult. The Order of Revan.”

“Revan?” It was the first time I’d ever heard Satele sound unsure. “But he was killed.”

“Apparently it didn’t take,” I told her trying to keep the sarcasm out of my voice as I did.

“All ships cease fire, and open a channel to the Imperial commander.”

A third voice, intense and a little unnerving, dropped into the conversation. Darth Marr.

“I’ve been listening,” he said. “As far as ruses go, this one is quite creative.”

“It’s the truth, Lord Marr. Round up the people from the list that was sent out and see for yourself.”

“And if you are correct? What then?”

“A meeting,” I told Marr, “Face to face, on neutral ground.”

“There’s a town on the surface called Raider’s Cove, we’ll make arrangements,” Aryelle added.

I thought for a moment that we hadn’t gotten through despite everything.

“What harm is there in hearing them out, Lord Marr?” Satele asked gently.

“None, Grand Master. Make your arrangements. I shall be there,” he said and cut the connection.

“You know I trust you, Aryelle. I trust both you and Theron…”

“It’s necessary, Master Satele, if there was any other way, we would have found it,” Aryelle replied. “Sending the coordinates now, and may the Force be with all of us.”

I shut the com array down and looked at Doc.

“I promised Master Thrace that once we got this done, I’d let you patch me up.”

“Then I better get to work,” he told me, “disappointing the lady Jedi is never a good idea.”

That was one thing we could agree on.

End


End file.
